Just a Girl
by Fernus
Summary: A day in the life of Pyrrha Nikos during her third year at Becon.
Pyrrha's arm went numb as her shield blocked Jaune's massive downward swing. She went to sweep his legs, but he had already leapt away in a graceful arc. Jaune remained motionless six feet from Pyrrha, staring intently. Pyrrha dropped her guard for the briefest of moments, before realizing he had used his semblance. She met Crocea Mors with Milo mere inches from her head. She smiled as she blocked; that had been the smoothest transition she had ever seen from him. Jaune brought his sword back around for another swing as his mirage self dissipated.

He had discovered his semblance at the end of their first year and it had proven invaluable in training. Originally his semblance had been hectic and unfocused, but as Jaune had progressed it had turned into a formidable weapon. With his new found power, Jaune had rapidly become Pyrrha's only effective dueling partner. This was not to say that he was the greatest duelist in their class; most of team RWBY and JNPR still held superior records. However, she and Jaune had sparred so frequently that they knew each other's fighting styles inside and out. This often ended in stalemates; one of them would have to invent an entirely new tactic to even have a chance of catching the other off guard. While Jaune's impressive semblance transition had been fantastic, it was not enough to throw Pyrrha off her game.

As Jaune's sword came around again, Pyrrha attempted to rip it from Jaune's hands with her polarity. She was taken aback when Crocea Mors slipped effortlessly from Jaune's hands. Jaune followed through with the strike, his hand balling into a fist. Pyrrha barely managed to dodge his strike, but now it was her turn to be on the offensive. As Jaune retreated once again, Akou, Milo, and Crocea Mors began to circle Pyrrha rapidly. Jaune hesitated for a brief moment before tossing his shield into the mix; either he gave it away now or his arm joined it. Both were now at their strongest. Pyrrha had in inconceivably powerful defense on her side, but now Jaune had absolutely no metal on him. Normally he would be wearing a chestplate, but he had deemed wise early on to forgo it during fights with Pyrrha. Pyrrha watch as Jaune grinned slyly at her, then seemed to simply fade away. Pyrrha closed her eyes and concentrated on listening; there was simply no point in looking for Jaune at the moment. If he had his shield on him then maybe, but as it stood she had nothing but hearing and smell to track him down. She waited patiently, her ears straining against the silence of the night. To her right she heard the slightest scuffing sound. She sent all of her projectiles in a fan pattern at the sound, confident that Jaune would be unable to avoid them all. A shadow appeared behind Pyrrha and she quickly realized her mistake; Jaune had simply made a diversion to leave her back open. Cursing her recklessness, Pyrrha brought the projectiles back at an alarming speed toward the blonde man who was attempting to strike at her. Akou was the first to reach its mark, and with the boy's fist mere centimeters from Pyrrha. To her horror though, Akou continued through the dissolving mist of an apparition. Milo and Jaune's shield continued past her as well, but Crocea Mors jerked to a stop as it began to pass her shoulder.

"Checkmate, Pyrrha," Jaune whispered in her ear as he lowered his blade and tapped her on the neck. Pyrrha whirled around and watched as a very cocky Jaune went to retrieve his shield.

"Jaune… that was incredible! I didn't know you could make them move!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"I didn't either," he said proudly as he collapsed his shield and sheathed his sword, " I just figured that out last week. Once I did, I knew I had to use it in a fight. When you went to throw Crocea Mors back it, I just grabbed on and let you pull me to you.: Pyrrha was shocked that she hadn't felt the extra humans worth of weight being dragged around, but in hindsight she had been putting a lot of force into those projectiles. "Now, I believe that there was a prize for whoever won today?" Pyrrha rolled her eyes, then yanked Jaune over to her by his sheath. She caught him by his shoulders, then pulled him in for a quick kiss.

"How's that?"

"Fantastic, I definitely want more," Jaune replied before pulling Pyrrha back in for another kiss. They stood like that unmoving for a few minutes, nothing but the sounds of night accompanying them. Pyrrha finally forced herself to break away to catch her breath.

"It's probably time to head back to the dorm, Jaune. Curfew is in just a few minutes." Jaune pretended to pout for a second, but eventually agreed. As they walked, Pyrrha looked at Jaune critically.

"What?"

"Nothing, just know that I won't let that trick work again."

Jaune laughed heartily, "Pyrrha, when have you let any of my tricks worked twice on you? I'll just have to come up with something else."The two made their way off the roof and down to the dorm room. They had barely shut the door before Nora was on them.

"Soooo, who won?" She asked, slightly swaying up and down as she hopped excitedly on the balls of her feet.

"Jaune did," Pyrrha replied in a falsely peeved tone, "he figured out a new trick with his semblance."

"Oh Jaune, that's great!" Nora exclaimed, "What does that make it now?"

"682 to 96," Ren recited in a deadpan tone, "with 112 draws." Jaune groaned loudly.

"I still don't think we should count our first year," he complained.

"Even then the record sits at 369 - 96," Ren reminded him calmly.

"Second year too?" Jaune asked hopefully.

"183 - 94."

"Fine, how about we just stop keeping a tally?" Ren let out a single small laugh, then turned his attention back to the book he had been reading. Nora's attention quickly turned back to her warhammer, which she had been polishing until it shone brilliantly. Jaune rapidly changed into shower gear and headed into the bathroom. Pyrrha flopped onto her bed and patiently waited her turn.

"So how did he do it?" Nora asked, her attention still mostly on her warhammer, " You guys have tied pretty much every time for the last month. What did he change?"

"He moved his phantoms," a bit of awe leakinging into Pyrrha's voice, " and his transition has gotten so smooth that it's almost impossible to notice when it isn't him. On top of that, I think his footwork may be better than mine now. I'm gonna have to come up with something to get the edge again," Pyrrha said happily. It reflected well on her as a teacher that Jaune was able to make her work this hard.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Nora replied happily, " you always do." Pyrrha laid silently in the bed and waited as steam rose out from other the bathroom door. She decided to study while she waited, and reached for a textbook. When she did, her drying sweat pulled at the sheets slightly as they stuck to her shoulders, something Nora did not fail to miss. "You knooow, you could go join Jaune. We wouldn't mind."

"NORA!" Ren exclaimed, his and Pyrrha's faces beet red.

"What? She's all sweaty! It'd save time…" Nora stammered to a halt as both Ren and Pyrrha stared at her in disbelief. The three sat in a slightly awkward silence until Jaune stepped out of the bathroom in a towel. Pyrrha pushed past him, still blushing profusely.

"What's that about?" Jaune asked, concerned.

"Nora," Ren replied simply.

"I don't get why she's so sensitive about it!" Nora exclaimed. "Everyone knows!"

"Not everyone is as open with their relationships as you, Nora. You have to learn to be a little more couth," Ren said harshly.

"Whatever," Nora turned to look at Jaune, "It isn't weird right?! She needed a shower!" Jaune's face turned bright red at the implications.

"Nora just...just go to sleep," He finally muttered. Nora talked quietly to herself, but eventually got ready for sleep. Ren quietly followed their lead and laid down in his own bed. Jaune got comfortable, leaving a single lamp on so Pyrrha wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark. After a few minutes, the door to the bathroom creaked open. A few seconds later, the lamp was turned off. Jaune was slightly startled when Pyrrha crawled in next to him, but he quickly readjusted. Draping his arm over her, they both fell into a blissful sleep.

The next morning, Team JNPR was heading to class when they caught up to RWBY as they headed to their own classes.

"Hey guys," Ruby chirped happily. "Oh! Jaune, I heard you won last night. What's that bring the tally up to?" Jaune muffled Ren as he tried to regurgitate his fight statistics.

"Uh, we don't really keep a tally anymore," Jaune desperately trying to hush Ren. His and Pyrrha's matches were fairly well known around Beacon by now, but he hoped to keep the exact record a secret to his grave.

"Uh huh," Ruby said, unconvinced. " So Pyrrha, I was wondering if you could help me with my backswing sometime? It's been throwing off my fights recently and I'm wondering if I developed a bad habit somewhere. Only if your not busy of course!" Ruby stared at her friend with large puppy eyes. Pyrrha smiled good naturedly.

"Sure! We'll look at it this weekend. Speaking of, do you guys want to go into the city afterwards? I need to restock on dust, and a new book shop just opened up." Blake's ears perked up at the mention of books; Pyrrha already knew that at least one of them would be joining in JNPR's excursion. Yang however, slumped her shoulders sadly.

"I can't," she began, " I'm tutoring a first year, and they're gonna want my attention all weekend. Sometimes I think being a tutor is too much hassle."

"Don't be absurd," Weiss laughed, " you love it. When else do you get the chance to yell freely at someone paying you to teach them?"

"Yeah," Yang smiled and perked back up a bit, "there are some benefits." Pyrrha only smiled as she watched her friends laugh and talk as they strolled towards their classes. It was such a relaxing sight.

Yang suddenly straightened up, her eyes pointing to the entrance of the administrative building. "Well speak of the devil! There she is! Hey, Mura! Mura!" A small girl dressed predominantly in deep purple turned towards the teams and grinned excitedly. She quickly made her way over to the group of older students.

"What's up Yang?" The girl asked expectantly.

"Just thought you should meet Team JNPR. They're almost as good as us." Yang laughed as Nora playfully shoved her. "This here is Jaune," the scraggly blonde warmly shook the young girl's hand, "leader of the team and perhaps the person with the strongest defense in Beacon," Jaune blushed modestly at the praise. Yang continued down the line. "This here is Nora," Yang bent down to whisper in the ear of the new student, "don't feed her after midnight," her face was deadly serious. She straightened up and continued, "this is Ren, the resident ninja. If you ever need help with tracking, he is your guy. And of course, this girl needs no introduction," Yang pointed at Pyrrha, who bowed her head sheepishly.

The students eyes flashed in confusion, then she blushed slightly. "I'm sorry miss, have we met before?"

"Wait," Weiss interjected, " You don't know her?!"

"Should I?" The girl squeaked. Pyrrha paused for a moment, then laughed heartily. The young girl calmed down, seeing that the unknown girl wasn't angry with her.

"No, of course you shouldn't," Pyrrha replied happily, "I'm just another student. It's Pyrrha Nikos, nice to meet you."


End file.
